The effect of prosocial modelling on medical students' professional identity in China: a PSM-DID analysis

Although role models significantly impact medical students' professional identity, empirical evidence is relatively scarce, and our understanding of the mechanisms behind this influence is limited. Through the lens of prosocial modelling, we explored the effects of role models on medical students' professional identity and attempted to elucidate the underlying reasons.

By leveraging the varying number of personnel dispatched by various provinces across China to combat the COVID-19 pandemic, we established indicators for different intensities of prosocial modelling. Using data from the two years before and after the COVID-19 pandemic, we conducted a quasi-experimental study. Employing the propensity score matching difference-in-differences method, we explored the effects of prosocial modelling on medical students' professional identity.

Prosocial modelling significantly enhanced medical students' professional identity (β = 0.087, p < 0.01), and the effect remained significant even after controlling for economic factors and the pandemic's severity (β = 0.067, p < 0.001). Notably, prosocial modelling more significantly impacted the professional identity of female students, those under economic pressure, those uncertain about becoming doctors during high school, and those ranked in the bottom 50% academically.

Prosocial modeling enhances medical students' professional identity, especially among females, economically disadvantaged students, those initially hesitant about a medical career, and lower-performing students. This highlights the need for role models in medical education to prioritize support for these disadvantaged groups to foster professional identities.